Evanston Is A Railroad Town
Stay & Play In Evanston!
The first tent was pitched here in November of 1868 as crews
building the Union Pacific Railroad approached from the east.
Named after UP Surveyor James A. Evans, the town quickly
became a major stop on the railroad. Coal mines opened in
nearby Almy to fuel the steam engines and Chinese laborers
arrived to both work on the tracks and mine the coal.
Locomotives were repaired at the Evanston roundhouse until
1925. From 1926 until 1971 items for the entire Union Pacific
system were repaired or manufactured at the railyards here. But
modern diesel engines eventually made most of the railroad
facilities obsolete and passenger service was discontinued in
1994. This is a guide to some of the reminders of Evanston’s
proud railroad past.
In Evanston You Can
• Enjoy the wildlife and nature trails of Bear River
State Park and the Evanston River Walk.
Railroad History
A Guide to Historic
Railroad Sites in Evanston
e va n s t o n w yo m i n g
• Shop and eat in downtown Evanston, a
National Historic District.
• Golf at the Purple Sage Golf Course, boat at
Sulphur Creek Reservoir and hike in the
Uinta Mountains during the summer.
• Drive the Mirror Lake Scenic Byway. In the
winter it is a paradise for snow machines
and cross-country skiing.
• Visit nearby Fort Bridger, established in
1843 by Jim Bridger and Louis Vasquez.
• Take home a piece of railroad history.
Limited edition HO Scale model railroad
cars can be purchased at the Evanston City
Hall. Proceeds help fund restoration of the
Roundhouse and Railyards.
Visitor Information
Evanston Chamber of Commerce
36 10th Street
Evanston, Wyoming 82930
800-328-9708 • 307-783-0370
www.etownchamber.com
www.evanstonwy.org
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Get Away to Fresh Air,
Freedom and Fun
The Tour
2 Roundhouse and Railyards
4 Ice Ponds
The tour covers six historic railroad sites in Evanston. It starts at
Depot Square at Front Street and 10th Street. On the 300 days a
year when the sun is shining in Evanston, this is a great 3.5-mile
walk that takes about two hours to complete. It is also a nice drive.
Union Pacific built this 28-stall brick roundhouse in 1912 to
service steam locomotives running between Green River,
Wyoming, and Ogden, Utah. It replaced a smaller stone
roundhouse. Other buildings in the railyards include the recently
restored machine shop and the powerhouse where steam heat was
generated for the complex. This is the last remaining complete
roundhouse on the old Union Pacific line between Omaha and
Sacramento. Restoration is underway.
In the late 1890s, Pacific Fruit Express teamed with Union
Pacific to create a series of icing stations along the UP line so
produce being shipped from the West Coast could be kept
chilled. Evanston was one of those stations. The Bear River
was diverted into two ponds where ice was harvested in the
winter and stored in several long narrow "ice houses." The
icing operations were abandoned in the early 1920s when
electric refrigerator cars came into use. The ponds were
restored in the late 1980s to serve as a recreation area.
1 Depot Square
The Union Pacific Passenger Depot was constructed in 1900,
replacing a wooden structure just to the northwest. The building
is architecturally unique among depots on the UP line in
Wyoming. On the inside were separate waiting rooms for men
and women. The Depot served passengers until Amtrak service
was discontinued in Wyoming. This public building now is used
for community events and private parties.
3 Railroad Worker Housing
Many of the houses along Main Street facing the Roundhouse
and Railyards were built between 1895 and 1910. The modest
homes were owned by railroad workers, in contrast to the larger
homes higher up the hill in the historic residential district where
engineers and company officials lived.
5
A 1915 steam engine is the main attraction in Railroad Park,
located near the corners of Elm and Oak streets in north
Evanston. There also are two boxcars, one of which has been
converted into a picnic area. The engine eventually may be
moved indoors at the roundhouse but for now you can climb
aboard and imagine you are an engineer.
6 Chinatown Archaeological Site
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Loading ice into produce cars
Oak Street
There is nothing left of Evanston’s Chinatown, which was
located just across the tracks from the Union Pacific Depot.
But an archaeological dig is underway in an open field across
the street from the recycling center, at the intersection of
County Road and China Mary Road. A small plaque marks the
spot. Some of the artifacts discovered here can be seen in the
Joss House Museum at Depot Square. The Joss House is a
reproduction of the Chinese temple that once stood near this spot.
Elm Street
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5 Old Steam Engine at Railroad Park
Bear River Drive
Walk Way
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Point of Interest
Roundhouse and Railyards
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